One night in New York City’s Chinatown, Lola is at a dinner with former colleagues when she excuses herself to buy a pack of cigarettes. On her way back, she runs into a former boyfriend. The next night, she runs into another ex. And then… another. The city has become awash with ghosts of heartbreaks past.
What might have passed for coincidence becomes something far stranger when the recently engaged Lola must contend not only with the viability of her current relationship, but the fact that her best friend and her former boss – a magazine editor turned mystical guru – might have an unhealthy investment in its outcome. As memories of the past swirl and converge, Lola is forced to decide if she will surrender herself to the conspirings of one very contemporary cult.
A smart and hugely entertaining tale of luck and love, Cult Classic asks: is it possible to have a happy ending in an age when the past is ever at your fingertips and sanity is for sale?
Sloane Crosley is best known for her New York Times bestselling essay collections I Was Told There’d Be Cake, How Did You Get This Number and Look Alive There, as well as her bestselling debut The Clash. Crosley’s signature style is humorous, sharp and extremely witty, all things she brings to the table in her highly anticipated second novel Cult Classic.
The novel follows Lola, a 30-something New York-based editor. Lola is engaged to a man she calls Boots. Lola loves Boots. She’s happy with Boots. Or, at least, she tries to tell herself this. But then she starts bumping into a trail of her exes, one after the other. With each encounter, Lola relives the highs and lows of her love life, while also being forced to reflect more closely on her future with Boots, the nature of love itself and, until recently, her status in the world as a woman who resisted settling down. A keen observer of the human condition, Crosley brings each of the characters to life with vivacity and precision, and the wacky premise is enhanced by Lola’s darkly funny and acerbic narration.
Smart, propulsive and absolutely unputdownable, Cult Classic is a searing genre-bender from one of the wittiest writers in America today. Another triumphant effort from Crosley.
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